Mixed reaction to fees announcement
There has been mixed reaction to
President Jacob Zuma announcement that government will introduce free higher
education for students from poor and working-class homes.
While some say the measures will help young people there are questions around the implementation.
In a statement released on Saturday, the president said the government will increase subsidies to universities from 0.68% to 1% of the GDP over the next five years as recommended by the fees commission.
Dr Ahmed Bawa, CEO of UNISA, said the increasing the subsidy level will have a huge impact on the sustainability of universities in the future.
Bawa said he hoping that the state is fully convinced that this is a sustainable of the model.
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"The last thing we want is a model in place for 2 or 3 years and discover that the model is not affordable," Bawa said.
Another concern he raised is that the new model mostly works for first year students, which would mean an influx of older students trying to get access to the same facilities.
"What this has done, though is put us on the good trajectory in ensuring that the higher education system is available to the majority of South Africans," Bawa added.
President of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Student Command, Peter Keetsi, also welcomed news but is rather suspicious of the timing.
Keetsi said the struggle will now be to ensure implementation.
He said they will not allow any institution to operate until the announcement comes into effect.
Keetsi said whoever is chosen is the new ANC leader at the elective conference will have make sure that when school year starts the report has been implemented.